Monthly Archives: May 2013

An angry sneaky Pete performed a slalom down the steps, hilarity. Joan got upset at Don regarding the fact that he fired Jaguar, after she used her body for something much larger than the nothing that she thought it was. Peggy is living in a private hell because, now that the mid-level firms have merged to form super-creative, Peggy must deal with the fact that she was a true dirtbag to the Downy Bear Stan Rizzo… and she can not reconcile the Draper eclipse as she had really hoped that she could prove to herself that she could attain the highest degree of professional success on her own. No disrespect to Don, I’m sure. How about Don and Ted Cavanaugh’s commonground? They simultaneously reached a growth plateau when it came to their mid-sized firms, Don saw an opportunity as he instinctively does, and he seizes it. Luckily, Roger Sterling was a part of this process, had he not been, then the agency would’ve developed a deep distaste for Don’s singularity of decision-making. Joan had made it clear that it should be a team effort, the irony being that the IPO meetings were carried out by the majority of the partners behind Don Draper’s back.

The most interesting part of the drama comes about when:

1. The partners, MINUS Don, carry out these IPO meetings to expand the firm many-fold.

2. Don, wanting to do business with decent people, fired Jaguar because he never got over what that grimey dirtbag Herb had Joan do. Remember? “Not like this…” He said it twice in that one episode! Don got the last laugh.

3. When Don fired Jaguar, he extinguished the company’s Public IPO opportunity simply because he was unaware of the fact that this was taking place. Therein lies the cognitive dissonance. Kudos to the partners for taking initiative, shame on them from keeping their lord and savior Draper Christ out of the loop as though he isn’t their greatest advocate. The aforementioned leads me to my next point.

Pete Campbell had made mention, after one of the IPO meetings, that Donald Draper doesn’t care about money, that is an important allusion that will further explain why Draper does what he does. When his firm evolves, he evolves. He and his career are on the same trajectory. His business and his identity are ONE, he is his work, and that is why he will do business the way that he sees fit because unlike everyone else, his work is his life… And he will not compromise or sell his existence short. It is primary to all things…

4. Don and Ted Cavanaugh run into each other outside of a meeting with Chevy, that Roger Sterling facilitated –Yes, astounding how Roger found a way to turn his pleasure into business— to Ted’s dismay. Ted delivers a manifesto blueprinting the dual fate of the two stalemated firms, and begins to sink in… over drinks, of course… and Draper suddenly realizes what must happen and that it must happen NOW. Don pulled the trigger, urged that the two firms merge, performed an INCEPTION on the Chevy minds, and made them believe that the merger was Chevy’s idea so that the merger itself was possible. This deal would send their new firm to unparalleled new heights. Even if there was a problem at the office post Chevy acquisition, they’d pale in comparison to the problems pre-Chevy acquisition.

SO HERE’S the kicker, again… Bert, Pete, and Joan had worked tirelessly to get an IPO and take the company public… they succeeded in doing so, until Donald Draper followed his heart and fired that bag of wheat germ, Herb and his Jaguar. THAT nullified the IPO that Draper was completely unaware of, forcing him into emergency salvage mode –where he is at his greatest– and acquired Chevy AND another firm… When Donald Draper panics, he evolves like a Pokemon and so does the firm.

Don achieved the same goal of expanding the firm exponentially, but ironically, without the team that tried to expand the firm exponentially without Don. Ding! Ding! Don wins! And they will be temporarily sour about it, but luckily Roger Sterling –who was in cahoots, and empowered by the notion that he’s still got it– can and will defend Don and his efforts to take this company to another echelon and that the sour patch underlings will always profit from Don’s pain. Roger can talk his way out of anything. Again, Don doesn’t care about the money, his strife comes from the fact that the company is his life’s blood and will go through any measure necessary to keep it alive.

There is, indeed, a plan for you… but that plan is you operating within the structured parameters of someone else’s plan if you don’t follow through. Allow me to reiterate and rephrase…

There is a plan for you, be it your plan or someone else’s. We all have a plan, execute that plan or else you’ve been planned for. You’ve been accounted for by people that you’ve never met, and may never get to know. That’s all a part of their plan. They have everything to gain –according to plan– and you stand to lose if you have no plan because you have no clue what game you’re playing. You must move with purpose, or the moment you feel as though you lack it you’ll be assigned one. The core of you, once fueled by purpose will cool right on down to mere jaded monotony… task. And you’ll be ensnared in a loop of misery until you reacquaint yourself with you and purpose. I’ve been incredibly repetitive thus far, but only because I had to tell you what I was going to tell you, tell you, and then tell you about what I told you. That, my friend, is persuasion according to Jay Heinrich. I used the aforementioned example of persuasion, to serve as this particular blog entry’s purpose.

I wanted to embue you with the notion that you’re a part of an intricate network of purpose on a macro & microcosmic level… of varying proportion, of course, but they’re all related to one another somehow. Choice is the fulcrum of history. One moment hinges upon what you decide to do with the next. There is power in that. Know that its yours. Your plan, your purpose, your choice? You must take control of it. You must walk with direction, and not meander unless the purpose in doing so is to discover. Purpose is your origin. Lose that and you lose yourself. There should be purpose in everything that you say and do, and you will be granted the power that you were born with and destined to wield.

Loki –Thor’s brother– proclaimed that he was “burdened by glorious purpose”, which was a powerful notion to me because the only caveat that existed in his world was the fact that he no other choice but to achieve… Purpose. The greatest burden there is.